PayPal issue
 

Seemingly out of the blue, PayPal suddenly said there were "account limitations" on my PayPal account, and I needed to verify my ID before they could let me use certain products and features. (After checking, it appears that there are no products or features I cannot use, so I don't know what "limitations" there actually may be.) More importantly, for ID verification, PayPal asked me to scan my Passport or Social Security card (among other very personal ID documents).

This seems incredibly fishy to me, and the paradigmatic way to phish, but I have looked at the Paypal site from several different ways, and it all seems to actually be part of PayPal's site and on my account. I have written to Customer Service about this, but has anyone else had this happen??

No, and I would be leery of PayPal wanting my social security card and/or passport as well.

Warning
 

PAYPAL or ANY legitimate identity confirmation request will NEVER ask for that kind of information. I assume the request started as an email or came up after you clicked on a link in an email. NEVER supply that kind of information. If you believe it might be real - open up a separate browser window and go to the secure sight directly - sign in and look for messages confirming the email you got - you will almost 100% of the time not find one because the emails are an attempt to steal your identity or get and use your personal financial information. I am not sure how exposed you are assuming you already responded or clicked on a link in the e-mail - perhaps someone here more technologically adept could offer further information.

scammers

See -> https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mp...cious-activity where they'll request you to forward that email (presuming this was precipitated by reception of email and they'll want it forwarded rather than just a cut-and-paste of the message body so that they can inspect the SMTP headers in an attempt to trace) to spoof@paypal.com where it can be verified. Presuming its fake they'll want to know of it as stuff like this potentially impacts their business. hth...

100% Phishing

Trash the email and don't look back.

Were they asking for $20m in gold as well?

Did you receive this notice via email, or did they reqeust your SSN after you were logged into your Paypal account?

I have had them request more info, including my SSN, when I was sending someone money via Paypal and logged into the Paypal site. It was only after I reduced the amount I was sending that they let me send the actual payment without providing my SSN.

In other words, I have seen first hand a legitimate request from Paypal for my SSN, which I agree is unnecessary in most cases.

And the email was signed by Prince Ummatoomoa from Nigeria.

Paypal issue
 

Call PayPal

Also check the "from" address on the email. Usually these scammers get it close to appearing like a Paypal email address but its not... Call Paypal yourself if you need to check...

If you clicked through your email and logged onto this fake site with your PayPal log in and password you should secure your account immediately. It may be advisable to get new credit card or bank account numbers if the scammers could have obtained this information.